It rained from Thursday night to early Saturday morning. My garden enjoyed the bath immensely, apparently so did the weeds as they are quite tall. Friday night, in the early evening, Jay called me from the backyard. He asked me if I wanted to see something. Oh brother, I thought. As I've said before, this could mean anything. So I asked "should I bring my camera?" figuring if he said yes it wasn't something that would gross me out. He agreed I should bring my camera so I willingly went. The second photo above this paragraph is what we saw - a Pileated Woodpecker climbing a tree outside our stonewall. It was enormous!

Sunday morning I entered the backyard about 6:45 a.m. to this: my chickens in a full-blown chant {they wanted out}, the neighbors geese in their own honking chant, the ducks quacking up a storm, the goats humming along, and to top it all off, the steer ringing his bell......perhaps requesting breakfast? I had to laugh - it was not melodic at all but it sounded wonderful nonetheless. The only thing missing was the roosters weren't crowing. Maybe the other animals were giving them a break.

I made Strawberry-Vanilla jam on Saturday. It turned out a little runny. I have 7 pints of it. Oh shucks, I guess we'll have to serve it over pound cake, over cream biscuits as strawberry shortcake in the middle of winter, mixed with yogurt and frozen in popsicle molds later in the summer, in our favorite BBQ sauce, and quite possibly, if my arm is twisted enough, over homemade vanilla ice cream. A real shame, isn't it? Once I have more berries I'll make more jam. I had to net my berries otherwise I fight with the birds and the chipmunks for them and since they are one of my favorite fruits, I make sure I win. Oh, real quick on the vanilla - if you are using more than 1 or 2 vanilla beans, don't buy them from the store. They are much {MUCH} cheaper purchased on the internet through a company such as this.

Yesterday I sat down and made a list of all the things I need to can this year by main ingredient, cross-referencing the item to which cookbook the recipe is in. I know, I know.....those darn lists! Although, if I hadn't done this I would have forgotten about making Rhubarb Syrup. Have you ever made this? It's delightful paired with carbonated water and poured over ice on a hot and humid day. Quite refreshing!

Today was beautiful. The sun was bright and the temperatures were moderate. My supervisors {Oliver, Emerson, Jackson, Cait and the Coop Girls} enjoyed watching me work in the garden. The Coop Girls are particularly fond of this activity because they are the recipient of most of the weeds as well as any meal worms I come across.

7 comments

Beautiful pictures. I'd love a piece of pie please! :) That's the thing about jam that's a bit runny, it's a terrible thing having to eat it over ice cream and all kinds of other delicious things ;) Sounds like a nice weekend :)

Sounds like a great weekend! I wish we had two days of rain! We must be in another drought, because we haven't had hardly any rain this year. It's really depressing. :( I love the picture of the woodpecker! He is just beautiful.

Thanks Donna and Grandmas 3 Ring Circus. Mary - don't you love it, regardless of the consistency? So tasty! Meg - I know I should be grateful for the rain but it just won't stop. I truly wish I could send some your way.Tammy - happy to help with the vanilla beans. Yes indeed, they are much too expensive in the stores.Leslie - you are too kind. Thank you!

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